Ranjona Banerji: Media gag in Kashmir: Crawl, Bend or Stand Firm?

By Ranjona Banerji

Is it not ironic that a government full of people who fought against Indira Gandhi’s Emergency and its brutal attack on India’s fundamental rights should now be part of a media gag in Kashmir? LK Advani, BJP founder, had made that classic comment about the media crawling when it was asked to bend.

So if the media now protests this gag, is it anti-national or upholding the Constitution?

In fact, from all accounts, the State has used no constitutional methods to stop the production and distribution of newspapers in Kashmir. It was all apparently done “verbally”. Midnight raids were carried out at newspaper offices, newly printed papers seized, people intimidated. This forced newspaper owners to suspend publication.

Let us also remember that in times of crisis, every government in India, state or Centre, finds it necessary to suspend the flow of information. The ostensible reason is to stop troublemakers from either gaining access to information or to spread misinformation. This is not the first time that mobile, SMS and internet services have been stopped in Kashmir.

However, it is only common sense that if you stop legitimate sources of information from reaching the public what you will be left with is gossip, rumours and misinformation. This is a very “nanny” approach to people – as if they are not mature enough to understand or analyse what they read or hear. You may argue that some people are not but that is not your or mine decision to make.

I do know from personal experience that people did not behave any better when there was a gag on the flow of information. In 1984, India was not informed when Indira Gandhi was assassinated. Rumours flew around the country, even in the days before mobile phones, the internet and 24-hour news television and when very few even had access to landlines. There were stories about how Sikhs “celebrated”. Across India, Sikhs were targeted. Everyone knew that something had happened and rumours fanned those flames of half-baked facts, which seemed to justify attacking innocent people. I am not sure that that was a better situation to be in.

There are many such examples of misinformation ruling when legitimate sources are blocked. The recent coup in Turkey forced the president to “facetime” with the people after TV studios were closed down.

It is important to make it clear that the freedom of the press has nothing to do with TV shows, opinions and media outlets that you or I do not like or with allegations of terrible journalism or with bad judgment calls. The “media” is not one entity in the way it operates. But the “media” is one entity when it comes to its rights and privileges. The freedom of the press is an integral part of a democracy and any government which cannot show good faith with its people has failed to uphold democracy.

Most media associations had condemned this gag. The Editors’ Guild statement says, “We are also aghast to note that the media censorship will continue, for a minimum of three days if not more. This is a direct assault to the freedom of the press in India and the Guild strongly condemns this unwarranted muzzling of the media.”

How does one build faith with people if your first reaction is to deny them their fundamental rights? It is a question which has unfortunately dogged us over and over again in India. To crawl or to bend or stand firm – what do our politicians and governments really want?